Football and Fashion |

Manchester United remain favourites with Paddy Power to win this season’s Premier League despite their Anfield hammering today. Alex Ferguson’s team are now 8/11 to win United’s 19^th league title.

Arsenal, who are now three points behind the leaders with a game in hand, are 17/10 to take the title no one seems to want to win. Prior to the weekend’s matches United had been 4/6 with Arsenal 13/8.

Premier League Latest

8/11 Man Utd; 17/10 Arsenal; 7/1 Chelsea; 25/1 Man City; 125/1 Tottenham

Liverpool are now 9/1 with Paddy Power for what would have been the most unlikeliest Top Four finishes prior to King Kenny’s return when they were as big as 25/1 for a Champions League spot. Dirk Kuyt’s hat-trick was avaiable at 125/1 although only four punters had taken the price on the Dutch magpie, who is unlikely to ever score an easier hat-trick in his career.

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Emma Savage, head of Manchester United Soccer Schools said, “Our courses here at Manchester United Soccer Schools are gaining momentum in popularity yearly, simply because we address more issues than just football training. Of course we improve chiefly football skills, but we also instil confidence, and refine social strategies.”

“Kids return to us each year because we impart to them the love of the game, the deep respect for football. Since we were formed in 1999 we have doing exactly this.”

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Former England football team manager Steve McLaren could be on his way back to England, if he has his way, fresh from getting the sack from Wolfsburg, after seven months in charge. This followed a poor spell of results that saw the team just outside the relegation places in the German Bundesliga.

McLaren is still held in very high regard, despite the England and Wolfsburg experiences, as a result of his time at Manchester United as Assistant Manager and as Middleborough Manager. He also won the Dutch championship last year, as manager of FC Twente.

McLaren would even be prepared to work for a Championship club, saying that there are just as many challenges in that league, highlighting the experiences of Blackpool, now in the Premiership.

There is no doubt that he would receive a mixed welcome if he returned, given the performances of the England team with him in charge.

Letting his irritation show forth, Sir Alex Ferguson vented about the unreasonable, and in some cases immoral, demands some football agents have put forward since he has been with Manchester United.

An unnamed agent demanded a block of flats to close the deal or his player would not sign. Another agent requested money for every goal scored by his player, but Ferguson pointed out that they were signing up and paying the player for exactly that. These incidents have been handed over to the directors of the club.

He was upset by the Blackburn Rovers’ agent, Jerome Anderson, because Sam Allardyce was let go. Sam is one of Ferguson’s good friends. Ferguson responded to sacking, “If Anderson had to pick something he couldn’t even pick his nose.”

During an interview with RTE Radio 1, he declared that the manager is the top of the heap at Manchester United and that if the player ever thinks he is more important it will destroy the team and they will never recover.

Ferguson also has strong opinions about the limitations that managers should have when negotiating wages for players. “A manager may phone me, and that’s when I get really irritated, when he asks for £1 million a year for a player who isn’t even a star. They believe they can work miracles like this.”

He clarifies, “The top paid players at Manchester United are getting paid what they earn. They are regularly out there performing in front of everyone, every time. Consistency and quality are the materials of star players. People expect them to perform well and it draws crows every week. That is why they get paid what we pay them.”

Sir Alex Ferguson believes that football is starting to get popular in the United States with the Manchester United manager expecting a competitive edge on their upcoming matches as they leave Monday for their Chicago training base.

The US was able to hold England to a World Cup draw and Ferguson is convinced that the Major League Soccer standard is better than ever.

Ferguson stated that American soccer is starting to make an impact and that he had commented before the World Cup that the US team were going to play like the athletes that top football players in England are.

He continued to say that this is also the way that American football players are, athletic and fit with a good feel for the pitch.  Ferguson explained that he can see the improvement throughout the MLS and has spoken to many people over the last few months about this fact and seen an upsurge in the excitement around it.

Darren Fletcher, Edwin van der Sar, and Dimitar Berbatov will be travelling to the United States along with many youngsters which include Fulham’s former defender Chris Smalling.

Ferguson added that winning is the challenge in front of the team but at the same time the idea is to get everyone a chance to play so that when they come back they are prepared for the season.

United will play against Philadelphia Union on July 21^st at the Lincoln Financial Field followed by a match in four days at Arrowhead Stadium against the Kansas City Wizards.  They will finish out their United States tour in Houston playing the MLS All-Stars on July 28^th.

Manchester United may not have earned a place in the Champions League and will have to scrape to keep their Premier League title, but they still have been able to keep the lead as one of the most valuable clubs globally.

In this year’s Forbes Magazine list of the top twenty football teams, the Old Trafford club held onto top position with a value of £1.19bn, which is a two percent decrease from last year.

England landed seven clubs on the list, although the Premier League is known as the most indebted club league throughout Europe.

Showing up on the list was Arsenal in third, Liverpool in sixth place, Chelsea in ninth, Tottenham Hotspur in 12^th, and near the bottom in 19^th place is Manchester City.

The last team on the list was a surprise as Newcastle United made the list even though they are currently in relegation for the Championship.

Forbes business sports writer, Peter Schwartz, stated that Manchester United deserves a bit of praise for its continual resilience and its place as one of the largest global sporting brands.

Schwartz continued to say that the club has made itself one of the first class brands out of all world sporting brands with great marketing and new kit deals that have helped them continue to hold their status even in the face of the global recession.

Over the last season the twenty most valuable clubs together generated a total of £422m in operating income and combined revenues of £3.57b.

Having paid out on Chelsea as winners of the Premier League on Friday top bookie Paddy Power are this morning facing the prospect of a £500,000 cock-up after Paul Scholes’ last minute winning goal in the Manchester Derby and Spurs unexpected 2-1 win over League leaders Chelsea has thrown the title race open again.

Reacting to yesterday’s results Paddy Power were forced to slash the odds on Manchester United winning the title from 6/1 to 11/8 and pushed Chelsea’s odds from 1/7 to 8/13.

Paddy Power said “I’m guessing it’s far too late to say our early payout on Chelsea was a belated April Fools joke? It looks like the football Gods are conspiring to teach us a very expensive lesson”

Paddy Power has long had a reputation for calling the title first for their punters each season. In the 2005/06 season the bookie correctly crowned Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea the champs as early as September after the London club raced into an unassailable lead. But the bookie hasn’t always got it right.

In 2003 Paddy Power paid out early on Arsenal (with a 12-point lead) as Premiership winners at the start of March. The Gunners surrendered their title with a 3-2 home defeat against Leeds United in the penultimate game of the season effectively handing the title to Manchester United and costing the Bookie a very expensive double payout on the Premiership that season!

LATEST TITLE ODDS

8/13 Chelsea (from 1/7)
11/8 Man Utd (from 6/1)
12/1 Arsenal (from 25/1)